


A Wrong Choice

by Bluewolf458



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-25
Updated: 2017-02-25
Packaged: 2018-09-26 19:57:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9919961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: Naomi learns a lesson...





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Sentinel Thursday challenge 'mistake'

A Wrong Choice

by  Bluewolf

Naomi walked briskly down the road towards the house she'd rented, aware of the footsteps behind her that speeded up even as she did. She felt in her pocket for the key; she reached the gate, which she had left open, and as she moved into the small garden she swung the gate shut behind her, and ran to the door. It took only a moment to unlock it, but she heard the gate being opened as she stepped into the house and slammed the door shut, glad that it was a yale lock that would relock itself - and slid home the dead bolt. She heard movement outside the door, then a muttered curse as whoever had been following her moved away.

She was shaking as she moved into the living room.

She had nothing worth stealing, only a few dollars in her purse, but she suddenly realized that if theft had been on her follower's mind, he might well have beaten her up because she had so little. And although she was a believer in free love, she also believed that it was her choice to say yes or no; she didn't want to be raped by a stranger who simply and suddenly felt horny.

She had moved to the small commune just a few days previously, drawn to it because she had heard that it was run on a totally 'no rules' basis; that everyone in it was responsible for him or herself. There was no police force closer than the town some forty miles away. She had already seen one brutal fight, on her second day there, as two men argued over something - nobody seemed to know what, and nobody tried to interfere. The loser had been left lying bleeding, barely conscious; Naomi's half-instinctive urge to help him squashed by the lack of concern shown by everyone else. The winner had glared down at him for a moment, then turned and walked away. After some moments the loser tried to push himself to his feet and collapsed again; then crawled unsteadily away. Naomi had glanced at a woman standing beside her. "What happens now?" she asked.

The woman had shrugged. "He'll recover, or he won't."

"Isn't there a doctor here? Or a herbalist?"

"No. If he isn't strong enough to recover on his own, he'll die. But if he recovers, he won't try fighting Randy again; whatever Randy requires of him, he'll do."

Naomi had been slightly shocked; her experience of communes, even her understanding of ones like this, was that people collaborated. And there was always someone skilled in healing, even if it was 'just' in the use of herbal medicine.

And now she had been targeted, although she had managed to escape. This time. She was suddenly certain that whoever it was might give her a day or two to relax her guard, and would then target her again.

She was beginning to accept that she had made a mistake in coming here; was making a huge mistake in thinking that the police were all jackbooted thugs intent on denying the general public freedom to act according to their desires.

Naomi made her way to the bedroom, where she quickly packed her small bag. She went to the window.

It was getting dark, but there was still light enough to see that there was nobody in sight.

She scribbled a quick note and put it into an envelope with the house key, picked up her bag, then crept out and made her cautious way down the road to the commune's shop - the one place it seemed that nobody attacked, possibly because everyone needed the shop, and from where she had rented the house.

She slipped the envelope under the door, glanced around, then carried on down the road.

If she had to walk the forty miles to the nearest town, so be it. But she wasn't spending another minute in this one.

 


End file.
